Vera Caeli
by Brian Conley
Summary: A young man living in a world recovering from catastrophe meets a mysterious black-kimono wearing man that only he can see. Three chapters to start! I love you all.
1. 1 - 1

The Old Town was the most occupied section of the city. The derelict was still upright enough to offer shelter, support in terms of concrete roofs and old, wooden doors with ancient hinges. Those who called Old Town home had staked each individual claim on the various subsections of the place, different families and bonded groups nesting in their own corners of the new kind of suburbia. Humanity surviving was like ball bearings cast down a craggy slope, everybody tumbled, fell into their places, into stuck little holes where they could continue to live.

At the limits, just a mile or so from where the road forgot the city and favored woodland, was the shell of a gas station. The once-glass frontage was now hard-nailed plyboard supported by thick lengths of lumbers, both inside and out. The front doors were the only thing still letting in light, the only surviving glass. The pumps were empty, standing statuary, surrounded by the broken rubble remains of their concrete awning. Written in charcoal, small letters near the door were two characters: Fujimoto.

The inside had been gutted, then rebuilt. The shelving all repurposed with flats boards into makeshift walls, divvying up the large room into three quadrants. The back two were bedrooms, the front a rectangular living space. The office in the back was storage, a pantry for dry goods and valuables used in trading. It also had a service ladder that went into the ceiling's crawlspace and from there, to the roof. This was the second place Hana checked when looking for her brother. She stood at the bottom, yelled up twice. She listened as her voice echoed through the place, vanished. It built frustration that flowered into anger and fueled her grumbling as she took the ladder up and wormed her way to the roof.

He was there, as usual. A slim boy, dark hair, a fair complexion. He sat on the top of an air conditioning unit, crossed arms and legs, watching the mid-morning sky. He was dressed in casual slacks, a kimono shirt that was open at the front. He had no shoes on. Hana stomped to him, making as much noise as she could to express both her presence and her anger.

"_Reizo._" She said, slipping his name sharply between his ribs, "Why don't you ever answer me?"

"I don't ever hear you."

"You _lie_." Hana said.

"Somebody's there." Reizo said. Hana had her lips pursed, hands on her hips. She was ready to continue the debate, but cut short. She turned to look towards the city. The surviving buildings stood proudly amongst the rubble, corpses of a thousand elderly constructs. It bled out, carpeted the sides of the spider-webbed roads between their gas station and the city proper. What was left were the biggest buildings, an old department store, apartments, offices and a civic center. A radio tower was at the center, old, orange metal still standing, despite time chewing fangs against the foundation.

"Right there." Reizo pointed, "Right on top of the big building, to the left of the tower."

Hana shaded her eyes with her hand, squinted down in the direction he was pointing. Aside from the landscape, there was nothing to see. She shook her head.

"I don't see it, Rei." She said.

"He's in a black kimono." Reizo described. Hana nodded, eyes closed, "He's standing, looking over the city, like a crow or something. I should go there, talk to him."

Hana worried her brow. She counted buildings, made a quick map in her head.

"That's the Kawaja House." She said, "My friend Aki lives there. She could probably get you to the roof…but later. _Now_, we're eating breakfast. We'd like you to join us."

"What is it?" Reizo asked.

"Leek soup. Fresh, too, mom picked them just today."

"Hmm, leeks." Reizo mused, "Maybe I'll just hang out up here."

"Maybe you _won't_." Hana took hold of her brother's arm and leaned, using her weight as leverage enough to pull him off his perch. He tumbled with her and despite both of them piling to the ground, Hana kept her stern, matronly demeanor. She wiggled to her knees and broke ice around Reizo with her stare. He lay on his back and turned from the glare as though it were blinding light.

"Fine." He said.

"And you're going to eat _at least _two leeks."

"One."

"-and a half."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine, fine."

Hana smiled. She clapped her hands together and stood, "Good! See, that worked out nicely. Now, let's go, please."

Reizo followed. They traversed the crawlspace, made their way to the dining table close to the doors. Afternoon light came in, and was supplemented by tall wax candles in the center of the low-set kotatsu. Their father was already seated, reading a paperback by the cast illumination. Short-cut hair, wireframe build-he was Reizo in forty years. He gave his children a pleased look as they sat, then submerged again into his book.

"How could you even see what that man was wearing?" Hana asked, "He was so far away."

"I guessed." Reizo shrugged.

"So maybe you _didn't _see anybody. Maybe it was just a trick of light. There are a lot of shadows this time of day."

Their father took interest, looked up from his reading, "Who saw what?"

"Rei says he saw a man on Kawaja House."

"I say I _did _see him. He was in a black kimono!"

"Probably just a shadow." Their father said. He smiled, returned to his book.

"Perhaps it was somebody working on the garden, there." Their mother said, introducing herself to the conversation with a pot laid in the center of the table. Steam escaped from beneath the lid, brought smell to the room. She sat on the last empty side, hands on her knees. Hana leaned forward to serve, careful not to burn herself.

"He was just standing there, though." Reizo said, "They have a garden up there?"

"You've never been?" Their mother asked, "I would have thought, since Aki lived there."

"She's Hana's friend, not mine."

"Rei doesn't have any friends." Hana said. She filled her brother's bowl, two leeks, and laid it before him. He narrowed his eyes at the portion. Hana didn't look his way, but touted a haughty expression as she began to eat.

"I have _friends_." Reizo said. He clapped his hands together and began to eat, "Daichi and Akihiko."

Hana cleared her throat, made her voice deeper, "I hope that they both get eaten by birds. Hana, why does everybody around here hate me?" She turned to him, "An exact quote."

Reizo scrunched his mouth, turned his spoon around his soup. He took a begrudging leek between his teeth.

"Don't tease." Their mother said, "It's perfectly fine for boys his age to be loners. Your father was a loner when I met him. He said he was 'too cool' for any of the kids around us."

"Now, now." Their father said. He turned a page with his thumb, not once looking from the book, "That was back in Kyoto, there weren't many children at all, nevermind ones our age."

"Yes, so Rei, what's your excuse?"

Reizo clapped his hands again, slapped his utensils onto the table. He stood.

"Thank you for the meal. I'm getting to work."

"Oh!" Their mother also rose, "Actually, do you mind taking some trade to Yukima Row? I was going to go, but if you can, it would be a big help. I have so much to do here, you see and your father is busy in the field today…"

Reizo looked out the front doors, up towards the sky. Some birds flew lazily across the horizon, shady specks in the daylight. A few clouds hung around them, motionless, stuck to the blue. He stuck his hands into the pockets of his kimono shirt, scruffed up his lips.

"I guess so." He said.

"_Wonderful_." Their mother said, smiling appreciatively.

The parcel was a large, wooden crate packed neatly with leeks, each layer separated by wax paper. Reizo opted to use the only remaining shopping cart with usable wheels, but was turned down by his parents, both citing their own needs for it that day. So he hauled it through main force, keeping it close to his chest as he walked the long road into town. Hana walked next to him, a canvas bag full of seed potatoes swinging casually at her side.

"Seems like it's going to be hot today." She said. She had changed into a peach-colored dress that skirted around her knees. It had wide straps and a sloping U around her neck. Her dark hair hung over her shoulders in twin tails. Heavy work boots adorned her feet, going up to her shins.

"I have friends." Reizo said.

"Still with this?" Hana rolled her eyes, "Look, it's alright. Really. We all go through these phases. I didn't make friends with Aki until last year, remember? Though, I am a few years younger, so maybe you're just a late bloomer? Either way, it's fine. Don't stress about it too much, you'll give yourself an ulcer."

"It's not fine." Reizo said.

They walked in silence for a time. The road from their home to the city was a length of bare, broken asphalt surrounded by the ruination of old civilization. An entire era of industrial buildings lay in broken pieces throughout the now-grassy fields. Pipes of rebar and iron hung around here and there, stuck like trees in the detriment. Occasionally, the sun would catch bits of glass and plate steel, making the fields shimmer for a brief time in the course of the day. Hana looked out across the stretch as she walked, her expression neutral.

"It is fine." She said, after enough time in silence to make the words sound like shouts, "In this world we live in, there aren't many people left. We're lucky to be in a place with so many, to be around a community so willing to help itself. I hear in other prefectures anarchy is the rule, that in places like Hokkaido it's catch-as-catch-can. In places like that, there wouldn't even be any _room _for carefree friendships-it's all about survival."

"Where'd you hear that? About Hokkaido?"

"Aki told me. Some people came from there a few weeks ago, they moved into Kawaja House. Aki's brother works in the greenhouses with them, heard a lot of stories."

"Second-hand information, then."

"Oh, what? You don't believe it?"

Reizo looked out at his side of the road. He stopped walking, lay down the crate. He stretched his arms over his head, pulled the muscles loose.

"It's easy to believe stuff like that, what with the world we're in." He said, "I just want to believe that maybe it's not as bad as they say."

"It could be _worse_."

Reizo looked his sister up and down. He smiled, nodded and returned to the haul.

"I'm surprised _you _made a friend." He said, "Being such a cynic."

"Catch-as-catch-can." Hana sang. They both laughed.

It took a good hour and half to get to the city. Two buildings marked the entrance, both tall high-rise apartments. Their original names now lost to the annals of history, they were known now as Hasigawa and Ino House, respectively. They were residential, but neither was anywhere near full to occupancy. Only a few people were around to even show that they were occupied at all. An elderly woman sat a few dozen feet from Ino House, facing the direction Reizo and Hana were approaching from. She was in a tired-looking lawn chair, reclining with her hands across her stomach, watching a pair of young children toss a ball about some feet from her. She smiled at Reizo and Hana as they passed and both bowed children paid only glances before returning to play.

"Surprised she's still alive." Reizo said. Hana put an elbow sharply into his ribs. He staggered from the blow, wincing off the pain.

Past Hasigawa and Ino was a spread of smaller buildings, once business and tinier apartments. A large portion of the place was without occupants, most choosing to live in the apartment buildings instead. The road split soon after and the siblings took the eastern way, diverging away from the residential area and towards the old industrial park. They passed a playground, a concrete park with flaking rusted equipment. Some children hung around it, favoring the still-smooth slide over anything else.

Yukima Way was a length of city streets that encompassed big factory buildings, most left empty, but the glassy ones repurposed into makeshift greenhouses. Hana counted building numbers, Reizo following her lead as she pointed them towards the correct location. Building number four-six-two, near the middle of the sprawl. It was once an warehouse for automotive parts, or so the near-faded lettering out front would suggest. Big, glass windows made up the upper half of the outside walls, each kept clean enough to mirror the sky and surroundings. The doors were all open, giving view to the many workers inside that busily tended the many, many rows of growth in iron planters.

They stood in the entranceway for a bit, waiting until they were noticed rather than

getting in the way looking for an introduction. Reizo sat his crate on the ground nearby. One of the workers saw to them as he passed by. He was well past middle age, bald and had the weight of many years' work on his shoulders. He smiled at Hana, shaking her hand.

"Mr. Fuda." She said, "We've brought this month's trade." She held up her bag of seed potatoes, "Fresh from our field."

Fuda looked into bag he was handed. He whistled, "You fellas really grow it good out there, huh?"

"We work hard." Reizo said. Fuda turned to him, gave him a quick bit of scrutiny.

"This is Reizo." Hana introduced, stepping between the two, "My brother. I'm sorry you two haven't ever met before."

"I usually deliver to a younger guy." Reizo said.

"My boy." Fuda told him, "Jun. He's mentioned you. Pleasure." Fuda held out a hand, Reizo shook. He thumbed to the crate.

"Leek root." He said.

"Excellent." He smiled wider, "How you and your parents produce such number astounds me."

"We don't eat much." Hana said, "And it's not so much how much we grow, but how much we can keep."

"Sounds like you have it all buttoned up, then."

"We try." Hana smiled.

"Well, we all have to. Anyways, I got our end finishing up. Say you come back in about an hour, we'll have it crated for you."

"Sounds good." Hana said, "We have friends to visit, anyway."

"Good, good." Fuda said, and the three split ways.

"So." Hana said, walking away, "I'm going to see my _friend_. I dunno what you're up to."

"I'm going to the top of Kawaja House."

Hana passed an expression of confusion, turned it to sly understanding, "Right, right. Your crow-man. Your friend?"

Reizo shrugged, "I know what I saw."

"I still don't get how you made him out in such detail from so far away."

"How many kimonos do you see around here?"

Hana looked her brother up and down. She took a pinch of his sleeve and rubbed it between her fingers. She let it go sharply, rolling her eyes.

"Not like _this_." Reizo said, snapping his arm away, "I mean like...looser. Like one of those kimonos you see in those old art books mom keeps around."

"I see. Rei, why don't you just come and hang with me and Aki for a while? I'm sure she'd like the extra company. She's an only child, you know."

"Ah, one of the lucky ones." Reizo said, grinning. Hana responded with a sour twist across her expression.

"That was mean." She said. Reizo's grin broke as he saw her face. He shut his eyes.

"Sorry." He said. He pulled her into a sidelong hug, tussling his fingers through her hair.

"Hey, guess what?" Reizo said.

"What?"

"I _do _have a friend."

Hana smiled, "Yeah, I guess you do."

"Can we be done with that now?" He asked.

"Sure." Hana said. She didn't pull away from the hold.

It took a fair half-hour to get to Kawaja House. The time could have been cut in half, but Hana found herself enjoying the walk and small talk, so she slowed her pace and Reizo matched it. It was early afternoon when they arrived. An elderly couple was sitting on the front steps of the apartment building, the man smoking a long pipe and the woman drinking from a clay mug. They both gave pleasant greetings to Reizo and Hana, both returning the salutations with shallow, though meaningful, bows of the head.

"I can't believe you've never been here." Hana said. They ascended via a stairwell in the lobby. Both left their shoes in the foyer, going the threshold barefoot.

"Never had a reason." Reizo said. He clicked his teeth, held up a finger. Hana laughed and pantomimed zipping her lips shut.

"Plus I always seem to be busy." Reizo continued, "With this or that. A 'day off' like this is pretty rare, wouldn't you say?"

"Hmm, I suppose I would. Certainly wouldn't mind more of them. Aki is working on a knit quilt and I enjoy helping her with it."

"Spending time off doing work, interesting."

"It isn't work if you enjoy it."

Aki's apartment was number four-three and her family's was the next door down. Reizo peered up and down the hall as Hana knocked. Most doors hung open, outside light filling the spaces and spilling into the hall. Motes of dust floated like lazy stars in the light, covered the by the occasional drifting shadow. Indistinct voices made a quiet din and every so often a child or busy-bodied adult would swiftly pass from door to door or cross the way at the end of the hall.

"I guess not a lot of people live here." Reizo whispered. Hana nodded.

"Not a lot of people anywhere, Rei. Did you go somewhere and forget that?"

"Just la-la land."

"A common vacation spot for you."

Reizo smirked. Aki came to the door, a stout girl, genetically waif-like up and down, stringy brown hair, sunken eyes. Her face was still tender with youth, that kind of permanent babyface that persisted even against puberty.

"A~ki!" Hana sang and the two embraced. When she stepped back from it, Hana held a palm up in front of Reizo, "I brought Reizo today."

"Oh, blessed be us." Aki said, "You finally decided to be social?"

Reizo rolled his eyes, opened his mouth and Hana stepped in to prevent his foot from entering it, "We're waiting on a trade." she said, "Got some time off, _finally_."

"It's good to see you, Hana-fana."

"Hana-fana." Reizo said. Hana drew a length of steel with her stare and put it against her brother's throat. Her smile made the sun shiver with cold. Reizo held up his hands, conceding instant defeat. Hana pressed an index finger under his ribs, threatening pain.

"That's not a name for you." She said.

"Hana gets defensive about these things." Aki said.

"May I go see the roof?" Reizo muttered. Aki tilted her head, then smiled.

"Of course? I think my mother is up there, tending the flowers, so maybe you could help."

"Yes." Hana said. She sheathed her finger and her tone, "I'm sure Ms. Ibara would like that."

Reizo nodded, turned on his heel, "You two have fun with your quilt. I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Don't fall off!" Hana said, cheerfully.

Reizo took the stairs up, going slowly to avoid fatigue. It still dogged his heels and snapped tight around his feet as he crested the fifteenth floor. The stairs narrowed, led him to a thick steel door with a brassy push bar, faded lettering announcing roof access. It clicked open easily, shook precariously as it swung out. The wind blew steadily out on the roof, a cleaner, softer gust than that on the ground. Flower petals twirled through the motion, chased by the soft, caressing aroma of wildflowers. Shallow planters made of painted steel were rowed four across, going almost from end to end of the place, each one colored with different blooms of flower. It was an impressive sight and for a moment, just as he stepped out into the sun, the world ceased to be as it was and Reizo was in a sparkling, ethereal orchard. He couldn't help but smile, shut his eyes and drink it in.

"Wonderful, isn't it?" A woman spoke. Reizo opened his eyes, returned to the rooftop. A middle-aged woman, same hair and build as her daughter below, knelt nearby. She had a wooden trowel and was busy transplanting some orange tiger lilies.

"Very much so." Reizo said. His manners turned on and he straightened, bowing.

"Ms. Ibara." He said, "Thank you for letting me see it."

"Oh, come now. It's nothing like that."

Reizo stood, arms still at his side, "It is very pretty."

Ms. Ibara nodded, "My husband always wonders why I don't grow fruit up here. In the summer, he says, we could get strawberries or maybe melons. I like the flowers though and the children do too. Everybody does. You have to have something like this in a world like this, don't you think?"

Reizo nodded. Ms. Ibara smiled broadly, finished her transplant and stuck the trowel into the dirt. She pat her knees, fixed her hair behind her ears.

"It's been a while, Reizo. How have you been?"

"Fine, ma'am." Reizo said, "Busy."

"This time of year, I bet. Are your family's crops doing well?"

"Yes ma'am. We're here to trade today with the greenhouses."

"Fantastic."

"How about you? I see that Aki is doing well."

"She is, she is." Ms. Ibara clapped her knees again, a forgetful kind of motion, "Now where are _my _manners-would you like a drink?"

"Oh, I don't want to be a bother."

"No bother, really."

"I wouldn't want you to go down all those stairs just for me."

"I have some just one floor down, I always keep some there just so I don't have to always worry about those wicked stairs. Please, let me get you something."

Reizo nodded, "If it's no trouble, then."

Ms. Ibara grinned, stood and left the roof, patting Reizo calmly on the shoulder as she did. Reizo stood alone then, looking out towards the horizon. He walked through the aisles the planters made, doing an S around them all before stopping at the far end of the roof. Unlike the neighboring buildings, there wasn't a fence surrounding it, just a two-foot lip and then empty space all the way down.

Reizo put a foot up on the lip, crossed his arms. The wind took the corners of his shirt, blew them up behind him. A thrill of child-like satisfaction ran across him and grinning like an idiot, he looked over the landscape. The city was a field of abandoned blocks, surrounded by the broken leftovers of what humanity once was. His home, the old once-gas station was a speck of property from here on high and beyond that was woodland until mountains. The road was consumed by it, existing, hidden by terrain. Reizo's grin faded as he looked at the world, his arms dropped. He thought of Hana, of his parents. Of Aki and her mother. Of all the people living in this city, of Hasigawa, Ino and Kawaja House. Trading produce, working the entire summer to supply food enough for winter.

He thought of the many books his parents had, each one treated like treasure. Books in both Japanese and English, books that told stories and fact about how the world once was. Things now just _history _to Reizo's generation and to those younger than him, just fairy tales. Reizo crossed his arms, turned over his shoulder to look back at the flowers, needing now a swallow of something joyful.

He saw him there, sitting on top of the stairwell housing. He had his back to Reizo, wore a flowing black kimono, short hair the same black color tied into a stubby tail. Reizo's back stiffened. He hesitated, then started towards him.

"Excuse me." He said, halfway there. No response, "Excuse me!"

Reizo stopped just before he would be too close to see the man. He waved his hands, "Hey, you up there!"

The man's head twitched, then returned neutral. Reizo huffed, using the moment of frustration to gather a nearby dirt clod and wing it in his direction. The man reacted instantly, twisting his body and throwing an elbow out to evaporate the projectile into a cloud of loose soil that blew off in the wind. The two locked eyes and Reizo kept a straight face as the kimono-wearing man looked down at him with abject surprise, eyes wide, hands out in front of him.

"Hello." Reizo said.

"You can see me?" Kimono-man said. He was older, maybe late fifties. His forehead took the brunt of the wrinkles, leaving the majority of his face smooth. His hands were tight with many years of hard use, his eyes shimmery grey, dark around the edges. He sat with one knee on the ground, one leg up. He asked again, "Boy-you can see me?"


	2. 1 - 2

"I just threw dirt at you, didn't I?" Reizo asked.

The man sat proper on both knees. His jaw hung open.

"Hell alive." He said. He stared at Reizo the way one would look at art on display, turning his head this way and that, rubbing his chin and closing his eyes in extended, thoughtful blinks. He hauled down from his perch, landing gracefully on both feet. His hands slapped Reizo's shoulders and produced a sensation that ran like hot water down the length of him. Instinct flared, Reizo spun away from the man, hands turned to fists.

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa._" Reizo said, "The hell was that?"

The man's smile shone exuberant glee. He crossed his arms, almost proudly. Behind him, the stairwell door opened and Mrs. Ibara returned, carrying a tray with two clay mugs. She looked at Reizo, her gentle expression concerned.

"Everything alright?" She asked. Reizo looked at the man, at Mrs. Ibara and then back. He jut his chin, smiled wider.

"It's..." Reizo said, running a thousand different lines though his head before one was accepted, "It's just fine. I'm just talking to myself. You know how it is, on a pretty day like this."

She tried not to show it, but her eyes betrayed her, narrowing with doubt. Kimono man stepped out of her way as she presented Reizo with his drink. Reizo took it, thankful and drank, cool water flavored with honey clovers.

"It's probably about time for me to go get my trade." He said, "Thank you very much for your hospitality, Mrs. Ibara."

Reizo finished his drink in short order and with a polite bow, returned the mug. He forced a smile, hurried around her and through the stairwell. Behind him, Mrs. Ibara called for him to take care and to say hello to Hana for her. Kimono man chased his heels, both their footsteps ringing through the stairwell. Two flights down, Reizo whirled, tightening every known muscle in anticipation for what could happen.

"Who are you?" He asked, "The hell _are _you?"

"A ghost." The man said.

"Do better." Reizo said. The man shrugged.

"A _warrior _ghost."

"Are you some kind of guiding spirit? Am I going to be taught myriad lessons, become a better person?"

"I'm not that great a creature." The man said.

"What's your name?"

"Hibiki."

"You don't look like a Hibiki."

"Oh? What do I look like?" Hibiki said, suddenly belligerent. Reizo scanned him up and down.

"Mikio."

Hibiki let out a long sigh, then shook it away with a smile.

"I'm just so pleased you can see me." He said, "It's been a very long time since I've been able to properly converse with somebody else and besides that-well...I'm just happy."

"Do you live here?" Reizo asked, "On the roof, I mean."

"No, no. I just arrived today. I'm chasing something."

"What?"

With a thrown switch, the atmosphere darkened. The dim light of the stairwell became suddenly apparent as Hibiki's features hardened.

"A tear between worlds." He said, "It's going to open soon and when it does, somebody needs to stop what's going to come out."

Reizo's throat went dry. His muscles relaxed and he gripped the banister, weak suddenly at the knees. Hibiki closed the space between them, putting again his hands on his shoulders. The sensation returned, hot water made of static electricity poured across him, got heavier the longer his hands remained in place.

"You feel it, no? That pressure? You can _understand _it, can't you? Like hearing a song, listening to the lyrics."

Somewhere, very far away yet distinct, a bell rang. Reizo again smelled wildflowers. A pink petal floated around him, chased down the stairs, out of sight. He shut his eyes hard, opened them and the man had started again towards the roof.

"I didn't mean to scare you." He said, "I realize that this maybe too much, too fast. I'm just excited, that's all."

"W-wait." Reizo said. He took a step and his legs faltered. He fell limply forward onto the steps. He turned his head up. The door to the roof was open, blinding light poured in, filled the stairwell, fought the shade inside. Hibiki was a shadow against it and when the door closed, he was gone.

Reizo fought the weakness in his joints and succumbed, this time stumbling backwards and tumbling onto the flat turn in the stairs. He didn't hit his head, but fell to darkness anyway.

_You feel it, no?_

_That pressure. _

To define it was impossible, to understand it even more. All Reizo knew about it was how it felt, how it affected him. It shook him in a way that he'd never felt before, as if parts inside of him were rattled around while the whole was left untouched. Something akin maybe to broken bits of clay inside fired pottery, rattled around by multitude hands. Warm hands, soft to the touch. Squeezing, hands that came with sounds of worry. Calling his name, over and over.

Reizo opened his eyes. His head was rested on his sister's knees and she was softly rubbing his cheeks with her thumbs. Her eyes bled worry, her lips tight together. As his eyes met hers, everything relaxed and she dared to smile.

"Thank god." She said, "You scared the hell out of me."

"Where am I?" He asked.

"Sitting in a stairwell, Kawaja House. Aki had to go help her father, so I came looking for you and found you lying in the stairwell. I thought you'd died, the way you collapsed."

"Sorry...for worrying you." Reizo gave her a grin as apology, "I guess I just got tired."

"Decided to sleep while going down the stairs, huh?"

"Sure. It was actually a ploy to get you to rub my cheeks." He nestled his head harder into her legs, "This is pretty nice actually. How come you don't show me this kind of affection more often?"

Smiling snarkly, Hana pinched the fatty parts of Reizo's cheeks until they were bright red. He yelped in pain, rolled free of her and stood, careful not to fall down the next flight of stairs and kill himself for real. She stood with him.

"Our trade is probably ready." She said.

"Good." Reizo said. He took three steps when Hana clapped her hands, reminded suddenly of something. Reizo turned to her and watched as she dug into the pocket of her dress and removed a round, knit wristband. She handed it to him confidently with both hands and he accepted. It was white with red trim and had pink and blue four-petal flowers in a repeating pattern around it. It fit snugly, warmly around his wrist and he smiled as he examined it.

"I made it with Aki." She said.

"You made this...today?" He asked.

"Yup. It's not hard. I was lucky, Aki's brother had brought some textiles from the neighboring prefecture-that stuff is hard to come by."

Reizo looked at his sister. She was standing with her hands behind her back, legs crossed at the knees. Her hair had been re-tied into a single braid, laying over her right shoulder. Her cheeks were blush with a smile, one that infected Reizo, sent a run of gentle warmth through him.

"Thank you, Hana." He said, genuine.

"You're welcome."

The pair traversed the stairs, left the building with legs happy to be on flat ground again. They bid farewell to the elderly couple on the steps and hurried to the greenhouse to get their goods. Fuda greeted them again, this time with a flat cart loaded with four medium-sized plastic totes of cabbage and carrots.

"Half for eatin', half for harvest. Done deal?"

"Done deal." Reizo said. He shook Fuda's hand, bowed. Hana did the same and they left, Reizo pushing the cart. In less than a half-hour they were back on the road, Hana giving the city one last look.

"I wish there was more time to spend with Aki." She said.

"Mm." Reizo said, "I'm sure she misses her little Hana-fana."

Hana threw a closed fist into Reizo's side. He ducked away from the brunt of it, laughed off the rest. Hana kept a grump about her, sticking her hands into her dress pockets.

"I don't understand why you get angry." Reizo said.

"It's a private nickname." Hana explained, "Between me and Aki. It's a friendship thing." She opened her mouth to continue, but clicked her tongue and went quiet. Reizo leaned on the cart as he pushed it, staring down the road absently.

"What's your nickname for her?" He asked. He mused a finger in a thoughtful circle, "Aki-chaki? Akiia? Oh! Maybe _Aki-faki_?"

Hana didn't respond and her silence took the form of an angry, brooding mob.

"So…" Reizo muled, steering the conversation away from the red zone, "Do you believe in ghosts? I met one today, up on the roof."

Hana turned narrow eyes to him, "You mean your kimono crow guy?"

"That's right. He's a ghost! And I met him."

"How do you know he's a ghost?"

"Because nobody else could see him. I mean, it was only me and Mrs. Ibara up there, but she sure couldn't see him."

"Sounds to me like you were in the sun too long."

"Oh, come on. Can't you at least give me the benefit of the doubt?"

"I doubt, alright."

Reizo smiled, "So, you're saying you _don't _believe in ghosts."

Hana was quiet for a few moments, then turned to Reizo with her nose scrunched up, "Do you seriously want to have this conversation?"

Reizo shrugged. Hana looked down at her feet.

"Me and Aki talk about it sometimes, what happens after you die. She believes in ghosts, says that Kawaja House is haunted. Like, she hears footsteps sometimes late at night and sees shadows moving outside when there's a full moon."

"Do you believe her?"

"It always comes back to that."

"Well…" Reizo said, "In spirituality, belief is keystone."

"Do _you_?" Hana asked, "Believe, I mean."

Reizo looked past the fields of rubble, to the afternoon sky over the faded horizon. He rubbed his teeth together in careful thought.

"I'd like to." He said.

"I'm the same way." Hana replied, "It would be nice to be assured of what absolution lies beyond the pale."

"That was beautiful." Reizo said.

"I read it in one of dad's books." Hana laughed. She look forward, then to the ground. She kicked a round chunk of asphalt , skittering it off the road and into the grass.

"I bet in the next life, things are better than this." She said, using a quiet church-voice, "With big fields of fruit and flowers that grow forever and where anybody can just feel _happy _without qualifying for it."

"I'm sorry you were born into this." Reizo said. Hana turned up a disgusted look.

"That's not something you have to apologize for, dummy."

"I guess not. I do know something I have to apologize for."

"What's that?"

"All the cabbage I'm going to make you eat in the next few days."

"Bleh." Hana stuck out her tongue. Together, her and Reizo laughed and the sound of it rolled like water to wash away the sour atmosphere that had begun to build.

When they arrived home, the siblings split, each heading to help a different parent. After trucking the cabbage around to the back and letting his mother know that everything went well, he shouldered one of the old hoes and went to the field to help his father turn the soil for the last crops of the season. Hana worked with her mother, hauling the cabbage to underground storage, a hand-dug root cellar that was insulated with clay to keep things refrigerated and fresh. The whole stock was counted, what was needed for that night taken out and the door behind them closed, sealed twice and hidden.

The rest of the day faded away, time turning quickly as the family lost themselves in routine. The sky was a dull orange-turning violet by the time Reizo and his father finished. They washed with water from the hand-dug well and changed into night clothes, folding their worn articles neatly, in preparation for upcoming cleaning. The smell of boiled cabbage filled the inside of the gas station, spiced by pepper and ginger. The soup thickened with a small handful of long-grain rice and when finished, came up in a soft emerald color.

Reizo sat at the table opposite the doors, head in his hands, watching the horizon. The sun was a tip of light, tender, fading rays cascading the purple dusk. Stars were tossed through it, the moon a half-circle of spotted silver. When the wind blew, loose dirt and grass went with it, gusting low over the sprawling fields. Hana sat across from him, using the dim from outside to read a manga. Their mother came in soon, laying down dinner with their father distributing dishes. They ate, for the most part, in silence, what with Hana and their father absorbed in their books. Reizo finished first, going through two bowls. He said his thanks and excused himself. On the way out he got Hana's attention, pointed to her half-eaten dinner and pat her lovingly on the head.

He debated going to bed. It was getting late and tomorrow was another busy day. They would be planting, tilling, cleaning-the fields were an endless parade of hard work. He was sure that his parents and Hana would be going to sleep soon. Instead he went outside. He sat on one of the broken slabs of concrete, tucking his hands into his pockets. He recalled the day, focusing mostly on Hibiki the ghost-man.

From memory he brought back the sensation of flowing energy that Hibiki had displayed through him. He had been asked if he understood it. Why would he, Reizo asked himself. _How _could he? The sensation was unlike anything he'd ever felt. Not like dipping into hot water, not like the climax of self-pleasure, not like any earthy sensation of electric flow that he'd ever been a part of. It was different, wholly, but somehow...somehow still comparable.

"That pressure." Reizo parroted.

He rubbed his chin, took in a full chest of nighttime air and held it until it burned.

Hana was already in her futon when he returned, lying with her blanket pulled up to her chin. He wasn't sure if she was still awake or not and erred on the side of caution, prancing on tip-toes to his own futon across the back quadrant of the space. He could hear his father snoring some ten feet away, on the other side of the shelving-wall. He laid down gently, moving like a snake. As his head hit the pillow, Hana whispered, the still-tone of her voice like a moth looking for light.

"I ate a lot of cabbage." She said, "Turns out it's not so bad."

"Good girl." Reizo said, "It'll help you grow."

"Rei?"

"Yes, Hana?"

"Did you really see a ghost today?" Her sentence faded at the end, sleep beginning to take her away from it.

"I think I did." Reizo laughed, "Do you think I'm crazy?"

"No." Hana said. She was quiet for a while, then, long enough for Reizo to think she'd fallen asleep. When she spoke again, it was almost inaudible. Reizo lifted his head to make the words out before they evaporated into the night.

"I'll always be your friend." She said.

"I know." Reizo said, "I know."

How long he slept before being woken, he didn't know. But he did sleep, dreamlessly, soundly. Kindly enough that he woke peacefully when somebody shook his shoulders. His eyes came open and standing in the dim was Hibiki, arms crossed, expression stern. Reizo's heart tore straight up, pushing out a gasp of painful fear. The jolt turned him up onto his knees, hands in fists.

"The _hell are you doing_?" Reizo snarled. He looked over to Hana's sleeping form, still undisturbed in her bed.

"I want to show you something." Hibiki said, "Come with me."


	3. 1 - 3

Reizo began to argue, but Hana stirred, rolling over. Her sleeping expression harkened back to her childhood, traits of a small girl evident in the way her mouth was open, how her eyes shut. Reizo looked at his sleeping sister, then stood, silently pointing and zipping closed his mouth with a forefinger and thumb. Hibiki nodded and together they left the building. The night was cool, but still summertime warm. Reizo walked a good twenty feet from his home before turning to confront Hibiki, who had trailed silently.

"What?" Reizo whispered, "What is it?"

Hibiki said nothing, simply pointed. Reizo followed it, looking behind him, up at the sky. The moon was bright, though half-born. The stars were countless, bright with distant color. Clouds shone like wet cotton as they approached and abandoned the space around the lunar lights. Reizo gave Hibiki a confused look, holding up his palms.

"Look at the moon." Hibiki instructed, "_Look _at it."

"I am." Reizo said. He narrowed his eyes. It was the moon, common, permanent. A hand rest on his shoulder and before Reizo could turn to Hibiki to question it, the sensation returned. It wasn't as mighty as before, now just a low-voltage buzz with a specific weight on his shoulders. It reminded him of carrying Hana was she was smaller. He shut his eyes in a long blink, coming back up to the same moon, same sky, but now scarred, a local, terrestrial occurrence, like somebody had dug their fingers into soft earth and was trying to tear their way free. The cracks spread like glass impacted, spiderwebs across the surface. Some places had small holes already opened and through them a blue light shone, wavy like a borealis.

"Wha-" Reizo stammered. His mouth hung open. Hibiki moved his hand.

"It's the intrusion." He said, "It has begun."

"What...what _is _that?" Reizo asked. He whirled to Hibiki, pointing furiously at the broken sky. His voice rose sharply, caught at the end by common sense.

"Creatures from another world are starting to verge." Hibiki said, "Reckon they haven't seen this side for...well, I couldn't tell you how long."

"Are they dangerous?" Reizo asked. He made a face as he did, knowing it was kind of a silly question.

"Of course." Hibiki said, "A few already got out. I've been following them up from Osaka, looks like my hunches were right. That's them, all of them, ready to bust out and do what they do best."

"Kill people." Reizo said. Hibiki nodded.

"Why show me this?"

"Because you can see it. Like you can see me. There are a lot of sides to a die, son. Most people only see the number they cast on, but some...some see the whole roll. Time was, there were a lot more people who could do it, who could do something _about _it. Now it's just you and me."

"You mean _you_. I don't know what I can do about monsters."

Again, Hibiki's eyes turned stoney serious. The mood settled hard around them, the night seemed to get darker. Hibiki turned sternly to Reizo.

"Do you love your family?" He asked, "Your mother and father? That cute little sister of yours?"

Reizo was quiet, thinking the question was rhetorical. Hibiki stayed with it, hung on it, let it float around and permeate the mood. Reizo licked his lips, trying to bring moisture back to any part of his upper body. Sand had started to collect in his gut. That pressure from before hadn't gone away.

"Of course I do." He said.

"Then you'll do something about it, because you can-well, potentially."

Reizo took a deep breath. He tightened his brow and snapped towards Hibiki.

"Explain further." He said, "Tell me _everything_."

Hibiki gestured for Reizo to sit, to which he obliged. He sat on a nearby concrete rock, not once breaking eye contact. Hibiki gently lowered himself down, fidgeting as he crossed his legs to a comfortable liking.

"Where to start." He said.

"Who are you?" Reizo asked, "Why can only I see you?"

"You're special."

Reizo rolled his eyes, "Do better than that."

Hibiki smiled.

"Death." He said, "Is a circle. Live, ascend, be reborn. From time immemorial has this been the flow. To facilitate this, a sect existed. Created from the strongest mortal souls in lieu of rebirth, this sect protected the integrity of both planes, mortal and ascended."

"But then…" Reizo said. He was leaning forward, tongue stuck out interestedly.

"I'm getting to it." Hibiki said, "Does the revelation of life after death do nothing for you?"

"I kind of already assumed _that _much, since you're a ghost and all."

"Not _really _a ghost."

"Are you something still alive after death?"

"Well-"

"So, a ghost. Unless this is one of those things where you call yourself something different, like a gardener calling himself an 'agriculturist'. Political correctness, something like that. What are you? A _specter_? A _phantom_?"

"A Death God." Hibiki said, sternly, "It is a mantle supposed upon the strongest of souls, those with keen aptitude for spiritual manipulation."

"But you're not all actually _Gods_, are you?"

"No. It's just a title that fits the role. Fighting back the scourges, cleansing and guiding lost souls-and so forth."

"Go on." Reizo straightened up, crossing his arms.

"That sect is no more. The whole of their realm is no more. I exist as a fading shadow of what once was and now…" Hibiki pointed behind him with his thumb, "Bad things are starting to happen. Things that once were almost trivial now offer much more serious threat. Threat that if left unchecked could fulfill absolute extinction of not only humanity, but of the mortal realm itself."

"Wow." Reizo said.

"You seem fairly content over all of this."

Reizo shrugged, "As of right now, the majority of what you told me is just a story. Something used to exist that did something and now that something that they did hasn't been done and is threatening us. Alright, it'll happen, who knows and when it does, _kaput_." He made a little explosion with his fingertips.

"This affects you and yours, your know."

"I am aware. No point in going crybaby over it, though."

Hibiki slapped his thighs, "_Good_. That's what I like to hear. You'll be a find Death God yet."

"Hold on." Reizo said, "Me? Become a Death God?"

"Of course. That's what I meant when I said you had potential. Listen, it has been a _very _long time since I've come across somebody who has a spiritual presence enough to be aware of things outside their realm. Used to be that only those who'd crossed could do it, but that well's dried up. So here I am looking for a needle in a haystack and you, my son, are just that. Even back when all of this was prolific, it was rare to find a living person who could see both worlds, so you understand how extraordinary you are _now_."

Reizo stared for a while. Hibiki stared back. All the information given processed through his machine, worked the gears, pulled the levers, turned the cranks. Reizo let it ebb and flow, considering every word spoken. He rubbed at his chin mindlessly as he thought. When the questions started to be extracted, he open and closed his mouth in a dozen half-starts before his mind finally picked one to settle on.

"You keep saying how long you've been alive." Reizo said, "So, you must know."

"Know what?"

"What happened to humanity?"

Hibiki shut his eyes, turned away, "I don't. I've been here for a hundred of your years. Time flows differently through the realms. What was thousands of thousands of years in one place is a minimal amount in the other. When I arrived here, humanity was already in straits."

"What were...the other places like?"

"Gone."

"They don't exist anymore?"

"Physically, sure. If you can get there. But the paths are all closed. I can't imagine what they even look like now."

"And that?" Reizo pointed at the sky.

"That's the bad place." Hibiki said, "Put simply, it's the -bad guys- come to call."

"I…" Reizo hesitated for a thoughtful beat, "I think I get it. Without one side to check the other, we get..._that_."

"Correct."

"What will happen when that breaks loose?"

Hibiki shook his head, "I can't imagine any other outcome but the extinction of humanity."

"If I'd never seen you, I would have gone straight to hell with it."

"Fate, perhaps?"

"Do ghosts believe in fate?" Reizo cocked a tiny grin.

"Why not?"

Reizo laughed quietly. He took a deep breath in and stood.

"I'm going to bed." He said.

"Then tomorrow, we begin."

"Begin?"

"Training." Hibiki said, "It takes a lot of it to draw out the power of a Death God from somebody and that's even if you have enough to make the switch."

With a sour face, Reizo scoffed, "Two problems: _you _have decided I'm going to be a Death God, not me and if I do go with it, there's a chance it's no good? Damned either way, then?"

"What else can you do?" Hibiki said, "Didn't you say you wanted to protect your family?"

Reizo looked at his feet, at his hands. He shut his eyes tight, opened them. He took in a deep, filling breath of the warm summer night and exhaled loudly. He turned to leave.

"I have to work in the fields tomorrow." He said, "We're tilling and planting. It's important. But if it rains, then...then I think I can swing a day off."

"If it rains, then."

Reizo looked upward and held out a hand, "Sky's looking pretty clear, though."

Hibiki smiled and nodded, watched as Reizo left without another word.

Reizo snuck back to his futon in perfect silence. He sat cross-legged on it for a while, watching Hana sleep. She'd stretched her legs out, rolled onto her back. Her blanket was squeezed across her midsection in what was probably a bid to keep cool. Her hair was already messy from slumber and as collected as she looked before, it was as rumpled as she did now. Her mouth was open, she was snoring slightly. Reizo looked at her and couldn't help smiling. He listened to his father snoring in the other section. He heard the wind blowing outside. The place still had a smell of cabbage soup.

He sat quietly like that for some time, lying down only when sleep pulled him so.


End file.
